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September 11, 2005

9/11 Wingnut Watch: Seeing Things

In response to what otherwise seems like an eloquent proposal, certain wingnuts are literally getting bent out of shape over the design of a 9/11 memorial.

Recently unveiled to the public and to the families of those who died on Flight 93, this 2,000 acre memorial proposed for Pennsylvania has drawn widespread support and approval. The problem the concrete-thinking right wingers are having, however, is the shape of the walkway. Apparently, this path — lined with 40 separate rows of red and sugar maples (each row representing one of the 40 victims), and designed to follow the existingshape of the land — seems to remind the radicals too much of an Islamic crescent.

In highlighting the image, Michelle Malkin (who is fast becoming one of my favorite examples of what has gone terribly wrong with America) posted various choice comments by her fellow flat thinkers. One asked: “What next–a holocaust memorial in the shape of a swastika?”

From a visual standpoint, it’s worth noting that these radicals are responding to a topographical model — an abstraction created to symbolically represent the project. In reality, the memorial would hardly call out this impression (unless, perhaps, you were flying over it in an airplane at an unnaturally low altitude). And still, the natural shades and shapes of the terrain, combined with the colors of the land, would likely never offer this kind of aerial contrast).

For those who see only bias, however, the impression of the “problem” might be better transmitted this way. Below is a representation of the path shape from ground level. Unless the design calls for carving the Islamic crescent into the trees, its hard to imagine there is much of an issue here.